<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Debate of Hospitality by hanleiahothwars</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25636759">A Debate of Hospitality</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanleiahothwars/pseuds/hanleiahothwars'>hanleiahothwars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Movie: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:01:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,269</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25636759</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanleiahothwars/pseuds/hanleiahothwars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Han and Leia debate over a practical matter at the start of their trip to Bespin. A missing moment from "Kairos".</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leia Organa/Han Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Debate of Hospitality</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633535">Kairos</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanleiahothwars/pseuds/hanleiahothwars">hanleiahothwars</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a missing moment from the 7th paragraph of the 2nd chapter (entitled “Lovestruck”) of Kairos.  I glossed over it at the time, but for some reason it returned to me today and the actual scene as it would have played out in real time basically wrote itself.  I posted it is as a oneshot that can be enjoyed on its own, but is also very much an offshoot of Kairos.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>
  <em>The Anoat System, not too far from Hoth</em>
</p><hr/>
<p>With the dilemma of their circuity bay kiss and the larger impasse of their undisclosed feelings for one another finally addressed, it freed Han and Leia to tackle the minutia of an unanticipatedly lengthy space voyage.  It had been an extremely long day, now heading into the overnight hours, meaning one of the first things they had to work out was who would sleep where. </p>
<p>Han straightaway offered Leia his cabin for the duration of their trip.  It was their common arrangement on missions piloted by the <em>Falcon</em> — which, at this point, pretty much meant all of their missions — and ordinarily would have gone without saying.  However, since the tensions between them following Ord Mantell, he didn’t want to take anything for granted.  Still, he fully expected her to take him up on it and was surprised when she flatly, though not unkindly, refused.</p>
<p>“It’s your room,” Leia reasoned, gesturing around them at all of his belongings already in their proper places.  “And there’s no one else along with us on this trip.  There’s no need for privacy concerns when I’ll be the only one in the crew quarters — that are outfitted with a closing door, the same as your cabin.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Han rebutted, “but my cabin has a lock.  The crew quarters don’t.”</p>
<p>Still caught up in the adrenaline and endorphin rush of admitting their feelings at last, Leia’s eyes sparked with amorous mischief.  “And just whom exactly do you think it will be necessary for me to lock out?” she alluringly retorted.</p>
<p>Han honestly hadn’t meant it that way, had been thinking only of her comfort, but he recognized blatant flirtation when he heard it, and it wasn’t about to let an opportunity with her go to waste.  He moved several steps closer, his voice dropping low as he raised one eyebrow suggestively.  “I been known to sleepwalk.”</p>
<p>Leia’s mouth quirked, but she fought off a smile in favor of more of their sultry banter.  “Is that right?”  She moved her hand up to ghost over his chest until she could grip the collar of his faded blue jacket.  “What else do you do in your sleep?”</p>
<p>He smirked, ever impressed with her.  “Inhibitions are lowered in sleep, Princess.  True desires come out.”</p>
<p>“Such as a desire to grab some hubba chips from the galley?” she coyly offered for example.</p>
<p>“A desire to grab <em>something</em>….”</p>
<p>Leia’s eyes hooded warm and dark as she retorted, “See, that’s why <em>you</em> need the lock:  so you can grab whatever you need to behind closed doors.”</p>
<p>Gods, he could drop down to his knees in adoration from that remark alone, but he held himself in check, though he allowed an unbridled smile of enjoyment to dance over his lips. </p>
<p>Without knowing it — or perhaps he did — that look, that smile of genuine pleasure and delight softened his features, reaching all the way up to pool in his eyes, turning them a deep mossy olive green that reminded Leia of the many long nights they’d spent on their third Rebel base, a humid jungle planet that seemed to make her desire for him spike as hot as the temperature outside.  To her, that look showcased Han at his most attractive — impossibly, <em>devastatingly</em> attractive — and it never failed to make Leia melt inside, prompting a full-body flush that settled low in her core in a delicious, aching quiver.</p>
<p>“Clever,” he acknowledged in a soft rumble of appreciation.  “You better be careful, Worship.  I might be tempted to kiss you if you keep talkin’ like that.”</p>
<p>“I might be tempted to kiss you back,” Leia admitted in turn.  “But I’m perfectly serious, Han,” she asserted in a tone that made it clear she was not.  “What are these nighttime dangers?  Enlighten me, I need to know.”</p>
<p>His hands found her hips, an answer in itself, and he whispered, “Enlightening you to what they are <em>is</em> the danger.”</p>
<p>“Oh?  Doesn’t my reputation precede me, Captain?  You’ll find me perfectly capable of warding off any kind of danger.  <em>If</em> I want to.”</p>
<p>The implication that she might not want to deflect such advances was all it took; he’d had enough talking.  Han pulled her the rest of the way to him and the teasing repartee devolved into passion that left them thoroughly off-track from any practical discussions — a condition that, it turns out, would persist for the majority of the trip.</p>
<p>This kiss beside his bunk was far different from the tenderness and sweet relief of the kiss that sealed their long-overdue declaration of feelings.  This kiss was more a continuation of the circuitry bay and the searing intensity that followed her murmured acquiescence:  <em>Okay, Hotshot</em>; those words would forever fire his blood.  Only here there was less restraint and no interruptions, only an aching hunger as Han deepened the kiss, as his tongue hotly found hers and she made a soft sound of exhilarated approval.</p>
<p>Until, as suddenly as it had begun, Han gently broke off the kiss, eyes warm on hers as they collected their breath.  “Sweetheart,” he sighed in awe, “that is my kinda way to settle an argument.”</p>
<p>She smiled happily.  “It definitely <em>is</em> settled.”</p>
<p>“Good,” he nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>“You’ll stay in here.”</p>
<p>“<em>Leia</em>.”</p>
<p>“<em>Han</em>,” she playfully imitated his same admonishing tone.  “Honestly, I’ll feel more comfortable if I’m <em>not</em> putting you out of your home for weeks on end.”  She held up a forestalling hand to the argument she knew was coming.  “It’s not as if you’re sending me to some dungeon.  I’ll simply be sleeping in one of the perfectly adequate crew bunks that far surpass the coziness of my bed back on Hoth.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he allowed, <em>nothing</em> was comfortable on Hoth, “but my bunk’s even cozier…”</p>
<p>“And you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place if you hadn’t stayed to make sure that <em>I</em> escaped.” </p>
<p>If this was about her feeling she owed him for that, he was going to put a stop to that line of thinking straightaway.  He had her back, and she had his.  That was just the way it was.  Like the planets being round, like Vader being an unholy prick, like Luke loving his blue milk; it was a fact of life and required no credit or fanfare.</p>
<p>When Leia saw him open his mouth for further debate, she stopped him before he could get a word out.  “Please, Han.”  A soft, sincere request had always been the quickest way to get him.  Her pride just didn’t often allow it.  “I really will feel better about it this way.”</p>
<p>“You might, but I won’t.”  It didn’t seem right not giving her the best room, the best situation and all the comforts he possibly could.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter to me where I sleep, anyway,” she maintained with a shrug.  “I’ll be plenty cozy.  After all this time, any part of the <em>Falcon</em> feels like home.” </p>
<p>That last part was a slip of the tongue she hadn’t consciously meant to say, but the rush of love it generated in Han was swift and powerful. </p>
<p>He would have given her the entire galaxy in that moment were it in his power to do so.  Though he couldn’t do that — feared he couldn’t even keep her safe from a lone bounty hunter — he <em>could</em> start with a single room.   </p>
<p>Han gave a mock longsuffering sigh, and the words <em>I love you more than life itself</em> came out as, “Fine, Highness.  Whatever the princess wants, the princess gets”, as he pressed one more soft kiss to her temple.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>